This wagon was found
in a grave at Strettweg in Austria. The grave in which this wagon was found
was a cremation grave in the seventh century BCE. This bronze wagon has four
wheels and each of them has eight spokes. It may have a symbolic meaning because
its construction does not seem to be intend a carriage. On the body, there are
bronze figures (see details). Twelve warrior-like figures,
four horses, and two stags(?) are placed almost symmetrically (see
photographs from other directions). In the center, a tall female figure
is standing. She raise her hands to lift a plate on which probably a vase would
be placed. Sandars suggested this was made by a Greek craftsman or by someone
trained in Greek, since the style of figures resemble a Greek warrior in bronze
from Olympia (Sandars). We do not have a certain literary source in which these
figures were described. The central figure was much larger than other figures.
It suggested she had an important role of the event in which this wagon was
used. She might be a goddess, a shaman or a person with high social rank. The
stag was often associated with myth. According to Pare's classification, this
wagon is one of 'Kesselwagen', "which bearing a bronze vessel and whose vessels
are mostly raised above the wagon, often supported by twisted bronze rods, and
the wagons themselves sometimes carry small bronze figures" (Pare, 181). This
wagon might be used at some kinds of ritual to bring a symbolic material, which
we do not know, on the plate.

Bibliography

Davidson, Hilda Ellis.
The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe. London (Routledge, 1993) 24-25.

Megaw, J.V.S. Art
of the European Iron Age. Beth (1970).

Pare, C.F.E. Wagons
and Wagon-Graves of the Early Iron Age in Central Europe. Oxford (Oxford
University Committee for Archaeology, 1992)

Details
The second photograph shows the center figure of the wagon. It is a female body
wearing belt which has ornamental pattern. In a group of smaller figures, there
are both females and males. They are naked, although some horse-ride men wear
caps and have shields and lances.

From
different directions

This
photograph was taken with a vase on the top of wagon. It was a suggestion how
this wagon was used. However we do not know what was carried by this wagon.